Kukla's Korner Hockey

Former Ottawa Senators defencemen Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros rejected Friday speculation that their former team’s collapse last year was linked to excessive partying.

The two players, who will play against each other here Saturday when Redden’s New York Rangers face the Tampa Bay Lightning, also said they never witnessed inappropriate off-season behaviour involving former teammate Ray Emery, who was asked during an interview with ESPN.com in August about whether he used recreational drugs.

Both players cited other reasons - Redden spoke of a failure to maintain the team’s historic commitment to team defence, while Meszaros suggested that exhaustion over the long playoff run the year before ultimately led to Ottawa’s second-half flop.